I have a hut with a tin roof and a roof on this side of the road. Inside the hut, I sit by the fire and play with a hammer all day. I can hear but I can't speak clearly. I have to use gestures to explain everything I say because others don't understand.

I live in Dasharathchand Municipality-4. I have been working as a carpenter for about 6 months. Apart from that, I am also a house builder. However, due to my age, I am not able to do house construction work. I quit construction work after my hands and legs hurt and I could not sleep. I started working as a carpenter while sitting because I could not stand all day and do construction work.

We are two brothers. My brother's family is doing well. Mine was also doing well before. Now it is in a critical condition. I am now 47 years old. At that time, my parents could not educate me. However, I studied up to 4th grade. After that, I quit my studies and started working as a laborer. My parents have passed away. I have three daughters and two sons. The eldest daughter and son are married. The other two daughters are 11 and 14 years old. The son has just turned 7 years old. The son and daughter-in-law live separately. There is a two-room house. The daughter-in-law and grandchildren live in one room. In one room, I, my two daughters and my son live. The eldest son works as a laborer and looks after his own family. He is also not educated. However, he has learned to drive. Since he is illiterate, he does not even have a driving license.

Two years ago, my wife went to ‘poil’ with someone else. We do not even know who she went with. My wife ran away, leaving my two daughters and younger son in my care. My son keeps asking when his mother will come. After a few days, I lie to him that he is my father. I love my younger son more than my daughter.

My daughter does not go to school either. I have enrolled my son in class one. Since there is no one to look after him, he goes to school only on the days he feels like it, otherwise he doesn't go. I am in this Aran house from morning till evening. The Aran house is far from my home in Shahilek Bazaar. I pay 1000 rupees a month for this Aran house.

On days when I can't work in Aran, my children and I go to bed hungry. The wages are not the same as those for building a house. There are not many people who do Aran work. Disability allowance is given, but it is not given on time. The income was from house construction. Since my parents and grandparents have been running Aran, I have also learned.

When I get work in Aran, I earn around 7-8 hundred rupees a day. Some days I don't even have a penny. The whole day's earnings are enough to cover my expenses in the morning and evening. I worry about what to eat in the evening and morning when I don't earn money.

I don't have a farm to earn money. I buy pulses and rice in the evening with the money from my daily wage and cook them. My children also wait for me till evening. If I could get my daughters married and my son grew up a little, I would sleep happily. The municipality had taken my daughter to a hostel to study. But the daughters refused to stay there.
I make small to large agricultural tools such as sickles, spades, khurpas, khukuris and others in the Aran. However, they are not sold that much here. Fire is needed to heat iron. I go to distant forests to find firewood for the fire and bring it. I don't have my own forest, so I have to borrow it from someone else's forest.